Breaking Bad (Single Camera Series)
Breaking Bad (2008-13) Vince Gilligan
This brilliant drama series is shot using a single camera, and the scene that'll be analysed is the scene where Jesse shoots Gale, this shot is full of close ups of both Jesse and Gale's faces, this is so that we can see their emotions, Jesse's clear fear and sadness tell us he's clearly second guessing himself, and Gale's sporadic head movements and watering eyes show his fear and desperation to live. However despite these close-ups there are more shot types, at the beginning of the scene there is yet another close up shot which has a very shallow depth of field, the only thing in focus is the phone on top of the CD's this is because it's the only important part of the scene so attention needs to be placed on it.
There is an Over The Shoulder shot both when Gale opens the door to Jesse and when Jesse pulls out the gun on Gale, this put's us in the perspective of both characters at both different times and shows the clear divide in intentions, one of which (Gale) is surprise to see Jesse at the door, and the other (Jesse) is to pull the gun out on Gale.
When Gale goes to open the door there is a cut whilst he goes to open it, then the camera cuts to another spot and the door is swinging open, this match on action cut goes fairly unnoticed since we know Gale is going to open the door when he gets there, so the cut isn't profound and unexpectedly different, this helps with continuity also.
Speaking of continuity, this scene's continuity is very well done and there's no errors clearly visible to us, the props stay in the same position, apart from the phone which starts on one part of the CD's and in the next shot is in a different location on those CD's, this however isn't a continuity error since the phone is vibrating due to someone calling it and it will have moved along those CD's in the time that we saw Gale pouring the tea. The tears in Jesse's eyes each time he is seen at a close up remain at a consistent level, and don't move up and down with each shot, thus meaning continuity remains.
When Jesse moves the gun ever so slightly to the right there is a focus shift from his face to the gun, this shows how we no longer need to pay attention to his face and instead need to focus on the gun, which has become the prime part of the scene, this enables us to assume that the trigger is going to be pulled and Gale is going to be shot, which of course happens.
The fact this is a single camera production is visible, especially in the stand off part since there's only two closeup shots that alternate and not a wide variety of shots which would likely happen in a non-single camera production, this isn't necessarily a negative though considering these two alternating shots are just as effective at creating a desired reaction in viewers.
However, the negatives we could take out of this is there is no master shot to refer back to every now and then so we're stuck in the loop of the two close up's, so there's not a vast range of shots.
This brilliant drama series is shot using a single camera, and the scene that'll be analysed is the scene where Jesse shoots Gale, this shot is full of close ups of both Jesse and Gale's faces, this is so that we can see their emotions, Jesse's clear fear and sadness tell us he's clearly second guessing himself, and Gale's sporadic head movements and watering eyes show his fear and desperation to live. However despite these close-ups there are more shot types, at the beginning of the scene there is yet another close up shot which has a very shallow depth of field, the only thing in focus is the phone on top of the CD's this is because it's the only important part of the scene so attention needs to be placed on it.
There is an Over The Shoulder shot both when Gale opens the door to Jesse and when Jesse pulls out the gun on Gale, this put's us in the perspective of both characters at both different times and shows the clear divide in intentions, one of which (Gale) is surprise to see Jesse at the door, and the other (Jesse) is to pull the gun out on Gale.
When Gale goes to open the door there is a cut whilst he goes to open it, then the camera cuts to another spot and the door is swinging open, this match on action cut goes fairly unnoticed since we know Gale is going to open the door when he gets there, so the cut isn't profound and unexpectedly different, this helps with continuity also.
Speaking of continuity, this scene's continuity is very well done and there's no errors clearly visible to us, the props stay in the same position, apart from the phone which starts on one part of the CD's and in the next shot is in a different location on those CD's, this however isn't a continuity error since the phone is vibrating due to someone calling it and it will have moved along those CD's in the time that we saw Gale pouring the tea. The tears in Jesse's eyes each time he is seen at a close up remain at a consistent level, and don't move up and down with each shot, thus meaning continuity remains.
When Jesse moves the gun ever so slightly to the right there is a focus shift from his face to the gun, this shows how we no longer need to pay attention to his face and instead need to focus on the gun, which has become the prime part of the scene, this enables us to assume that the trigger is going to be pulled and Gale is going to be shot, which of course happens.
The fact this is a single camera production is visible, especially in the stand off part since there's only two closeup shots that alternate and not a wide variety of shots which would likely happen in a non-single camera production, this isn't necessarily a negative though considering these two alternating shots are just as effective at creating a desired reaction in viewers.
However, the negatives we could take out of this is there is no master shot to refer back to every now and then so we're stuck in the loop of the two close up's, so there's not a vast range of shots.
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